


On The Couch

by TheFoolsKnight



Series: Tiny Bites of Malec [10]
Category: The Eldest Curses Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Book 4: City of Fallen Angels, Cuddling & Snuggling, Insecure Alec Lightwood, Insecurity, M/M, Missing Scene, Relationship Problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27840922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsKnight/pseuds/TheFoolsKnight
Summary: After the very awkward meeting between Magnus and Camille, he and Alec go home, where a scathing discussion ensues. Somehow, Alec is forced to sleep on the couch that night.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Tiny Bites of Malec [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1732912
Comments: 17
Kudos: 97





	On The Couch

“We need to talk,” Magnus said as soon as the door to the apartment fell shut.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Alec muttered mutinously, sitting on the couch and pulling off his boots. He paused when Magnus’s frame appeared in front of him, and looked up to see his boyfriend towering over him, glaring down through hardened amber eyes with his arms crossed.

Alec shoved his now removed boots aside and leaned back into the couch, crossing his own arms and looking up at Magnus. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know, how about the part where you made a scene in the institute about my supposedly hundreds of exes,” Magnus said dryly.

“Well I still don’t know if they’re in the hundreds or the thousands, now do I?” Alec returned in the exact same tone.

Magnus turned his eyes up to the ceiling, muttering something under his breath before looking at Alec again. “What’s your problem?”

Alec turned his gaze away, a little taken aback at being asked such a direct question. 

Magnus seemed to have taken note of his silence, because he sat down next to him on the couch and asked, again, “Is it because our vacation was cut short?”

Alec remained silent.

Magnus sighed. “If that’s the case, I’m sorry for ruining our vacation,  _ again-“ _

“It’s not about the  _ vacation _ , Magnus,” Alec nearly snapped, a note of exasperation slipping into his voice.

“Then what?” Magnus asked in a tone that was both mildly annoyed and pleading at the same time. “What is it?”

“It’s-“ Alec paused, the words freezing in his throat, and tried again while rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know, okay?! I just- I just hate that you’re always so secretive all the time! You could’ve at least mentioned, before we left for the institute, that Camille was your ex-girlfriend. Maybe I wouldn’t have looked like a jealous fool in front of everyone, then!”

“ _ You  _ looked like a fool?!” Magnus demanded. “Did you even see the looks your mother was shooting me?! If anything, I was the one who looked like a complete asshole of a boyfriend, Alec-“

Magnus abruptly shut his mouth with a snap, turning away. Alec hesitated a moment before looking directly at him, and found him staring at the ground with a frown etched into his face. Alec had never seen him so disrupted and uncomposed before.

Before Alec could say anything, however, Magnus spoke up once more.

“I think it’s better if we sleep on this, first,” he grumbled and stood up. “We can talk in the morning. Come on, we’re going to bed.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Alec snapped. “You said you wanted to talk about this, didn’t you? Well, we’re talking.”

Magnus looked at him, his jaw set. “ _ Not  _ like this. Look, I just don’t want either of us to say something we’ll regret.”

“Right,” Alec said dryly, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I  _ completely _ forgot that you have two-hundred times the experience I do. So sorry I’m not the expert in this relationship.”

Magnus’s gaze slipped away, and he stared hard at the floor for a moment before adding, “And I think it’s better if we slept separately tonight.”

“What?!”

Alec goggled at him, wide eyed, but before he could say anything, Magnus disappeared into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. The living room was suddenly too intensely silent for Alec’s taste. He’d never felt so lost in this apartment before. 

A few moments later, a blanket and pillow, along with one of Alec’s sweaters materialised on the couch next to him. Alec slumped into the cushions for a moment, staring at the items for what seemed like a long time, before begrudgingly removing his tuxedo and pulling the sweater on. He left the tux on one of the armchairs, and with one last longing look at the closed bedroom door, mixed with a sort of dread and sorrow cutting into his heart, lay down on the couch and threw the blanket over himself.

It was the most fitful, sleepless night that Alec had ever had.

And yet, when he woke up from the few hours of sleep he had managed to catch in the early hours of the morning, it was to the smell of sandalwood lingering in the air and Magnus’s arms wrapped around him.


End file.
